The kitchen is the hub of many people’s households, but safety in the kitchen is vital as there are many ways in which it can be dangerous.

Whether you’re a lover of baking and cooking or someone that doesn’t spend a lot of time in their kitchen, these kitchen safety tips will be useful in helping to prevent injuries to you and your family.

Some children enjoy helping parents out in the kitchen, but you must teach them to stay out of your way when necessary and to keep their distance from hot appliances that haven’t yet cooled down. Furthermore, pets around your feet or lounging on the floor are tripping hazards, so it’s important to make sure that they are also kept at bay.

2. Don't rush

Rushing around the kitchen will almost guarantee accidents. A top kitchen safety tip is to be careful and take your time when cutting food and moving pots and pans.

3. Wipe up spills immediately

It’s easy to spill something in the kitchen when you’re multi-tasking and trying to tend to others. To improve safety in the kitchen it’s crucial that you clean up water, grease or oil immediately, before anyone trips and hurts themselves. Furthermore, food that is spilt in the oven and not cleaned up gives your food an unpleasant taste of smoke and charcoal, which is unhygienic and can cause illness.

4. Keep your oven clean

Keeping your oven clean is a great kitchen safety tip, because if food is spilt on your oven and not cleaned up, it can burn and set fire. Furthermore, if your oven is dirty then it will often produce black smoke, which can be very hazardous for you and your family. If you need your oven cleaning and would like to request a quote from our professional, local specialists then just click here.

5. Learn how to use knives

Make sure you educate yourself on how to slice and chop food properly with knives, so that you don’t injure yourself.

6. Check that your oven and other kitchen appliances are turned off

Leaving your oven and other kitchen appliances turned on could be a fire hazard or injure any pets and children if they’re left hot, so check that these are all turned off once you have finished using them in order to improve safety in the kitchen.

7. Keep a first aid kit in the kitchen

A first aid kit is not only important for the bathroom, you should make sure you have one handy in the kitchen too. It should include gauze, burn salve, scissors, and the phone number for your doctors and nearby hospitals.

8. Wear safe clothing and footwear

Be careful of what you wear whilst cooking or baking. Long sleeves, hair, scarves and jewellery can catch fire or tug at pots and pans, causing them to fall off the top of the stove.

9. Sanitise your kitchen

A kitchen safety tip worth remembering is to clean your kitchen with cleaner as often as possible, in order to prevent bacteria and germs from spreading.

10. Ensure your fire alarm works

According to the fire service, you are twice as likely to have a fatal fire in your home if you don’t own a smoke alarm. The large majority of fires start in the kitchen, so don’t forget to check your smoke alarm battery regularly and replace your fire alarm once every 10 years.

We hope that our kitchen safety tips will help you be more vigilant, so you can improve the safety of both you and your family.

If you would like one of our specialists to clean your oven and other kitchen appliances, such as your hob, extractor hood, microwave, aga or barbecue, then just request your free estimate with us today.

​​Having spent a substantial sum on new carpet and fitting, you’ll want to keep it looking good for as long as possible. Here are a few tips on caring for your carpet.

Vacuuming and shampooing

Newly-laid carpets sometimes develop what appear to be patches, which happens after the tufts have been compressed in different directions. As soon as the carpet is vacuumed, the tufts will return to their upright position, so we recommend that you vacuum your new carpet as soon as it's laid.

Regular vacuuming is good for your carpet. It removes dirt and grit that collect at the base of the tufts, and once removed, the tufts can stay upright and keep the colour rich and bright. Upright and cylinder cleaners can work equally well, but take a look at our Vacuum Cleaner buying guide to see which cleaner best suits your needs.

Loop pile carpets should be vacuumed using the suction head only, as beater brushes and heads can cause a felted look.

How regularly you clean your carpet of course depends on the amount of wear it gets. We recommend getting the professionals in, but if you'd prefer to do it yourself, we sell steam and carpet cleaners.

​​While it is the best time to declutter and clean out the mess, it’s easier said than done. Furthermore, the thought of spring cleaning can seem daunting as there are plenty of cleaning spots around the house that are often overlooked.

With these places hiding in plain sight, Helpling cleaning expert Roxanna Pelka, reveals the 8 most frequent areas at home that are often overlooked during your Spring Clean.

Kitchen

​Oven Hoods: The oil magnet!

Oven hoods not only absorb odours, they are also a magnet for fat and oil. If you don’t remove it early enough, it will start to clog up the oven hoods, making it tough to thoroughly clean them out. A simple trick would be to wash them in the dishwasher: place the filters horizontally on the top compartment of the machine. Make sure to run the dishwasher without other dirty dishes to avoid catching food residues in the filters.

If you do not have a dishwasher, place the stopper in the sink and fill it up with water. Add a double dose of washing liquid into the water and place the filters in the sink. Leave them to soak for a couple of minutes, scrub them thoroughly with a brush and then repeat the process. Don’t neglect the inside of the oven hood: rinse off the accumulated oil and fat and dry thoroughly, with a 100% cotton cloth.